Frequently Asked Questions

What is Master-VM framework ?

Master-VM ® framework is our innovation to provide a self-directed, self-paced learning framework. Our Ultimate goal is to enable individuals in any part of the world to gain knowledge and become experts on Information Technologies in their own pace, in their own time and to learn in their own language of choice.

What does Master-VM framework consists of ?

Master-VM ® framework consists two major components :

1) A Master-VM (virtual machine)

2) A Server (physical machine)

A Master-VM is what we provide you. For physical server, you have two options :

a) We love to sell you our Hands-On-Box ® Server

b) We will recommend a specific model of Intel ® NUC Server which you can buy it either online or off-the-shelf

Is it mandatory to buy a Hands-On-Box ?

Absolutely NOT!

We will recommend a specific model of Intel ® NUC Server which you can buy it either online or off-the-shelf and it will work just fine with our Master-VM framework.

Master-VMs are available once you sign-up for our simple Pay-as-you-go subscription plan

Am I expected to download Master-VMs ?

NO. There is no download involved in our model.

Master-VM will be delivered to you by post in a USB thumb drive. Just import Master-VM into your laptop. Return the USB thumb drive back to us in the free return envelop that will be provided to you.

Our operating model in someways similar to Netflix DVDs rentals.

What do I do with the USB thumb drive once I import Master-VM ?

Please return the USB thumb drive back to us in the free return envelop provided to you.

How much does a Master-VM cost ?

Master-VM is provided on a subscription plan. Please refer this page for details

Can I get a Master-VM for free ?

After registration, you will have a trial period for one of the Master-VMs for evaluation.

What are the recommended physical servers for running self-paced labs ?

You have two options:

a) We would love to sell you our Hands-On-Box ®

b) We will recommend you a model of Intel NUC server that you can either buy it online or off-the-shelf

Can I use any other physical server other than the ones recommended ?

In theory, If your physical server is something recent with dual/quad core Intel processor supporting virtualization and with a lot of memory (32 GB minimum recommended) then the self-paced labs should run fine.

But having said that, if you run into any BIOS, driver issues and such, we may not be able to provide you support 100% other than through our blogs and forums. Hence the reason, we would recommend you a physical server which we use internally for building the self-paced labs. That way, we can assure you that you don't run into any hurdles.

Keep in mind that the end goal is to learn IT technologies and not to get bogged down wasting your precious time in dealing with mundane problems which deviates you from learning.

Can I lease a Hands-On-Box instead of buying one ?

We love to offer a 'Leasing' option down the lane but we are not there yet right now with our current revenue model. We are hoping to get there once we reach a certain revenue target. But Yes, we definitely have that in our roadmap and we're hoping to make it real.

Does Hands-On-Box or Intel NUC officially supported by VMware ?

No. Neither of them are certified nor listed on VMware's Hardware Compatibility List. However, it is our responsibility to make sure that there will be no challenges running ESXi hypervisor and the self-paced labs on them.

Can I run any other hypervisor on Hands-On-Box other than ESXi ?

Hands-On-Box is built out of a specific model of Intel NUC server board. So any Operating System that runs on NUC will run on our Box as well.

Our intention of building Hands-On-Box is specifically designedto work with our Master-VM framework.

Where can I purchase Hands-On-Box ?

Hands-On-Box will soon be available for sale on our website (please sign-up here)

That's one of the challenges where we are trying to walk a thin line. We want mind share. We want as many people as possible to use our Framework with the Master-VMs that we provide. But at the same time, we don't want people to share Master-VMs among themselves not paying us a penny 🙁

So to that context, we are leaning towards having a hard time limit for every Master-VM that we provide. So the lifespan for every Master-VM would be 4 weeks. After the hard time limit, Master-VMs stop functioning.

You can think of it like DRM'ish (Digital Rights Management)

Do I need VirtualBox or VMware Fusion installed on my Laptop ?

Yes. It is mandatory to have Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Fusion installed on your Laptop. We recommend VirtualBox because it is free!

Log in as root in both VMs namely SERVER-01 (172.16.10.1) and SERVER-02 (176.16.10.2) and run the following commands. Pay attention to the IP addresses and port numbers that are being pass on each Server VM.

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we’ll need the current
password for the root user. If you’ve just installed MariaDB, and
you haven’t set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] <–Hit ENTER
… Success!

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from ‘localhost’. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] <–Hit ENTER
… Success!

By default, MariaDB comes with a database named ‘test’ that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.

Our true definition of success as a viable business is to enable individuals like you who have that fire in your belly to learn what we offer as self-paced labs, no matter where you live and what you speak.

Our end goal is to hand deliver Master-VMs through our subscription model so that you can self-learn to your heart’s content.

Partner Engineering

It’s always great to be in the partner engineering team guiding partners what to do and which way to go.

But at times, you yourself is at lost when it comes to producing your own deliverables namely SETs / Solutions Enablement Kits (or whatever your company calls them) because you’ll soon end up becoming dependent on other teams like technical marketing, product management, field enablement and so on.

By using the same Master-VM framework that the rest of the company uses, you can lock step and be on the same page with the rest of the teams. With this approach you can get your deliverables out the door on time and bring up partners on board in a consistent manner.

Product Management

You know what it means to be in the product management, how you are expected to have all the answers all the time and how everything becomes your action item.

One of the most challenging part of being a product manager is to assimilate all the information from the engineering and then spread it within the company as well as with your customers.

With our Master-VM framework, your products no longer have to live within powerpoints or wiki pages or in webex recordings. Your entire product stack with all its uses cases can come to life by packaging them into a single Master-VM along with evaluation licenses. And that can be distributed quickly in a USB thumb drive to all the relevant teams. That way, no one has to bother you on corridors or cafeteria asking for demos or product details anymore. Just point them to its Master-VM and that will take care of everything.

Technical Marketing

Technical marketing teams are expected to churn out reference architectures and white papers like pan cakes expect, nobody knows what it takes in producing your deliverables and how much you are dependent on having your own internal labs.

One of the major challenge you often face is showcasing your product capabilities and their integration with other products within your company as well as from partners and competitors. Once you figured that out, next comes the real challenge of disseminating that information to the rest of the world.

Our Master-VM framework gives you great flexibility in packing all your findings, recommendations, configurations, documentations, video/webex recordings – all in just one single VM (we call that Master-VM). It is upon us to get that delivered to your end customer, be it internal or external. This way, we completely eliminate the challenges in either opening up your internal labs for public consumption or burn your pockets by running them on a public cloud 24/7.

Technical Account Managers

As as TAM your neck is always on the line. Customers expect you to solve all their problems in a jiffy. You’ll end up becoming their sandbag taking all the blows and punches. But when it comes to training a TAM, it always seemed to be an after thought.

With all your hectic schedules and meeting up with customers face-to-face constantly, attending a full 5 day training course eventually becomes a pipe dream. You hate being dependent on someone else to help you out on the technical side of things as you never had the time to free up yourself in learning what you’re expected to know in the first place.

With our Master-VM framework, you can do your self-directed learning in your own pace. Since you are running the self-paced labs locally, you can always pause and continue your lab exercises without over lapping your work schedules. This way you can always keep up with product features and limitations first hand and deal the customers confidently.

Field Enablement

Though Architecting heterogeneous solutions have its own challenges, the primary hurdle that many Architects face is a lack of exposure to such systems.

With Master-VM framework, we build self-paced labs anywhere between the simplest to the most complicated architectures involving multiple software/hardware components from multiple vendors. Our Master-VM approach gives great flexibility, exposure and confidence in building such complex architectural solutions.

The video lessons that come bundled with any Master-VM will save your precious time in not getting yourself lost by wandering on the net looking for clues/answers but stay laser focused on mastering the concepts quickly without any diversion.

Consulting Architects

The management wants professional services organization to be a cash cow for the company. But somehow doesn’t want to spend on the required technical training (?!) Ask them for a training and all you hear are budgets cuts, quarterly endings and cost cutting.

We understand your world. And that is why we kept all your training requirements as the fundamental corner stone while designing our Master-VM framework. You no longer need to convince your reporting chain all the way up to a VP to get the required training. All you need is your laptop, your physical server, your time commitment and the rest is on us.

In fact, for some of the self-paced labs that we have designed, we have even eliminated dependency on an internet connection! That way, you can be in hotel room in a different country altogether, but you can still spend a few hours wisely in learning the product capabilities of your choice using our Master-VM framework.

Sales Engineers

Our Master-VM framework provides you an alternate and cost-effective way of carrying your demos and proof-of-concepts with you on your customer visits which instantly become your sales tools.

Your sales cycles can be much shortened by leaving your portable servers at your customer site for them to play with your stack if needed, rather than try building sandboxes for them on Cloud and then baby sitting them.

You no longer need to burn midnight oil in preparing for your next day demo. But instead a single Master-VM can build your demos and poc’s with all the use cases that you see fit. This way you can showcase product capabilities effectively and quicker.